Excellencies, Members of the United Nations Security Council
United Nations, New York, New York, 10017 USA

Hon. Ameerah Haq
Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations
Timor-Leste

Dear Members of the United Nations Security Council,
After 10 years in a climate of independence, we Timorese people
continue to endure long suffering related to the cases of serious
crimes that were committed during the Indonesian military occupation
of our country. This suffering will not end until there is an
effective judicial process to try the perpetrators of human rights
violations that resulted in the deaths of 100,000 – 180,000 Timorese
during the Indonesian occupation from 7 December 1975 until October
1999.

As citizens of a new country, we remain deeply hopeful that the
United Nations Security Council will maintain the principle of rejecting
impunity for all serious crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore,
we believe that the members of the United Nations Security Council will
take concrete action to address the cases of serious crimes that
happened in our country during the Indonesian military occupation.

As citizens of a new country, we remain deeply hopeful that the
United Nations Security Council will maintain the principle of
rejecting impunity for all serious crimes and crimes against
humanity. Therefore, we believe that the members of the United
Nations Security Council will take concrete action to address the
cases of serious crimes that happened in our country during the
Indonesian military occupation. Also, we had great expectations when
the United Nations, by means of the mandate of UNTAET, established
the Special Panels on Serious Crimes to achieve accountability by
prosecuting the perpetrators of many serious crimes.

However, the current UNMIT mandate only includes investigation
processes but not prosecutions, and only covers serious crimes
committed in 1999. We are worried that this limited mandate will not
end the cycle of impunity in Timor-Leste. We are very concerned that
if impunity prevails in Timor-Leste it will nourish impunity in
other countries, and all of us who struggle for human rights will
not succeed. Therefore, if the United Nations fails to end impunity
for past crimes against humanity committed in Timor-Leste, there can
be no accountability for ongoing crimes, such as those committed
during the 2006 crisis in our country.

We, citizens belonging to civil society organizations, individuals
and victims, still wait for sufficient and adequate action from Your
Excellencies. We need your good will to explore new possibilities
for prosecutions of unresolved serious crimes cases when you revise
and extend the UNMIT mandate.

We strongly believe in democracy and rule of law that the UN and its
members have robustly supported, and fear its demise if the
phenomenon of impunity continues to prevail in Timor-Leste. We are
very conscious that our state is still fragile. Timor-Leste alone is
not strong enough to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against
humanity and serious crimes, because most of them are protected by
Indonesia. Likewise, the courts in Indonesia do not have the
political will to bring the suspects involved in crimes in
Timor-Leste during the occupation to trial. Additionally, the
governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia currently do not prioritize
human rights, but give preference to friendly bilateral
intergovernmental relations.

The lack of attention to human rights violations undermines the
democratization process in Indonesia and respect for law in
Timor-Leste. It certainly has and continues to impede the
considerable efforts of the United Nations to end the cycle of
impunity. Thus there must be accountability for human rights
violations.

Given this situation, we think it is best that the Security Council
discuss the recommendations of the Commission of Experts that
visited Timor-Leste and Indonesia in April and May 2005 to evaluate
the justice processes. There is no need for United Nations to waste
more energy and time waiting for insincere Indonesian trials that
fail to effectively prosecute perpetrators of these crimes,
eventually freeing them all. The United Nations has a responsibility
to secure justice for crimes against humanity and serious crimes
committed in Timor-Leste that must be addressed now.

Specific recommendations to be included in the new mandate of UNMIT:

Establish a mechanism during the UNMIT mission which will create
an International Tribunal.

Expand the mandate of the Serious Crimes Investigation Team (SCIT) to include some of the most grievous crimes committed prior to
1999, such as the 1975 invasion, 1983 Kraras Massacre, 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre, and others.

Give SCIT the authority and sufficient resources to prepare and
publish formal indictments for cases they have investigated.

Sincerely,

Timor-Leste organizations

Community Development Interest (CDI)

FOKUPERS

Forum Tau Matan (FTM)

Front Mahasiswa Timor-Leste (FMTL)

HAK Association

Institute Edukasaun Popular (IEP)

Ita Ba Paz

Judicial Monitoring Program (JSMP)

Kdalak Solimutu Institute (KSI)

Klibur Solidaridade

Knua Buka Hatene (KBH)

Luta Hamutuk

Mata Dalan Institute (MDI)

National Program Associate – ICTJ – Timor-Leste

Organizasaun Popular Vitima da Guerra (OPVG)

Sekretariado Timor-Leste NGO Forum (Fongtil)

Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis (La’o
Hamutuk)

Gustaf Dupe, Chairman, Association of Prison Ministries
Chairman, Law Enforcement Watch
Secretary General, Jakarta Christian Communication Forum
Head, International Relationships, Institute of Struggle for the
Rehabilitation of the Political Victims of the New Order Regime (LPR
KROB)